


Baby Steps

by IvyBlooms



Series: Next Generation [5]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Family, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Papa!Sasuke, short fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 18:09:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7584628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IvyBlooms/pseuds/IvyBlooms
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sarada wants her papa to stay, just this once.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baby Steps

**Author's Note:**

> Hello lovelies. For the longest time I chose to keep my Naruto 'next gen' drabbles/onshots on Tumblr only but recently I've decided that I will compile them here on A03 into a series. I wrote this piece before Gaiden was published so I was still under the impression that Sasuke had been an active parent in Sarada's life. Please enjoy!

“Please don’t go, papa.” Sarada found herself saying for the third time that morning.

The sun was still low in the sky and the air smelt of the soft rain that had plagued Konoha over the past three nights. The grass was still damp and sparkling with dew and the birds chirped sweetly just beyond the window panes. Their normally cheerful tunes held somber notes that morning.

Sarada watched as her father slipped on his shoes and ran his one hand through his ebony hair in what she could have sworn radiated frustration. In all honesty, Sarada didn’t believe he had a right to feel frustrated with her or her mother, who stood quietly near the front door with sad eyes and pouting lips. She was no more happy about Sasuke leaving than Sarada was, but for whatever reason, she chose not to voice her displeasure at the current situation.

Sasuke eyed his daughter and placed his hand on her identical hair and pulled his fingers through it softly, like he always did when he was about to reveal something unpleasant to her. Sarada pulled away and continued to glare with her fiery eyes.

Sasuke sighed. “I can’t, Sarada.”

“You always say that.” And he did. He always said he couldn’t stay, no matter how much Sarada would cry or beg, or more recently, serve him with a glower that may even rival her mother’s.

Sasuke stared at her a long moment, his hand at his side clenching and unclenching, as if he was fighting with himself not to reach out for his child and hold her to his chest. Sarada missed being able to do that with her father, back when she was younger and still complacent with her father’s many lengthy absences. Back before she knew he had a choice. And he chose to leave.

“You always leave us.” Sarada stated hotly, bitterly. “You never stay longer than a few days and you only come back every few months. Why can’t you just stay? Bolt’s dad never goes anywhere. He’s always home.”

“Bolt’s father is the Hokage, it would be improper for him to leave the village for any extended amount of time.” Sasuke explained calmly, “I am not the Hokage.”

Sarada folded her skinny arms over her chest and stuck her lower lip out in a pout. “Inojin’s father never really goes anywhere, not really. He only goes away on missions once in a while but he’s always home otherwise. You’re not even away on missions. You just leave.”

Sasuke’s eye twitched and Sarada could tell she was trying his patience. She didn’t care.

“I leave to try and help people who otherwise could not help themselves, Sarada. I am on a mission, a mission I’ve assigned to myself.” Sasuke leaned down, though he still towered largely over Sarada’s short stature. “I would have expected you to understand and respect that.”

Sarada could hear the underlying hint of disappointment in her father’s voice, hidden beneath layers of carefully molded monotones. She felt her anger bubble and for an instant, she knew what it felt like to be a forgotten tea kettle on a stove. It was not pleasant.

“Mama cries when you’re gone.” Sarada blurted out, glaring daggers at Sasuke. “Right after you leave, she goes to her room and locks the door. She thinks I can’t hear but I do.”

Sarda saw her mother stiffen like a board and her eyes widen like saucers and for a second, Sarada felt ashamed that she had brought to light her mother’s most private and vulnerable moments. However, it got the desired effect. Sasuke too stiffened and glanced over his shoulder at Sakura, who turned her face down to stare at the tiled entryway. She did not want to appear weak, not in Sasuke’s eyes, and Sarada knew that.

“Sakura,” Sasuke breathed her name like a prayer and Sarada almost blanched at it. She knew whenever her father said her mother’s name like that, if was often followed by a deep kiss or some sort of overdrawn embrace. But nothing of the sort happened in this instant. Instead Sasuke turned his gaze back to Sarada.

“I will stay for a while longer.” He gave in. “But no longer than a week.”

Sarada smiled and fell into her father’s chest, breathing in his soft scent. She knew it wasn’t forever, but everything should be done in baby steps when it came to her father. Her mother had taught her that.


End file.
